FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT PERFECT FAMILY - PAGE 4

We may grumble about the extreme humidity in summer, the extreme cold in winter and the extremely weird fluctuations and storms of spring, but at least we have one season, autumn, that gives us little or nothing to grumble about. As the days and the column of mercury in the thermometer get shorter, mellow autumn puts out a gorgeous welcome mat. "Some people look at fall as the long lead-in to the depressing winter season, but it's my favorite time of year," says Jill Stites, a naturalist at Ryerson Woods in Deerfield.

This is gun country, but more a la Daniel Boone than Rambo. The towns here dot a long valley between parallel ridges of the Pocono Mountains, and many folks have hunting reserves on the nearby slopes. You can`t drive far along U.S. Highway 209 before passing a rod-and-gun club, such as the one near this hamlet of 350 where Cameron Kocher and his family live. By the time he was a boy of 9, his dad had taken him to the shooting range at that club and showed him how to use a .22-caliber rifle.

By William Mullen. William Mullen is a Tribune staff reporter | June 17, 2001

Thousands of miles and 27 years have separated them since they last saw each other, but Jack Badal still is haunted by dreams of his show-business life with Ramar, the gorilla he raised and trained at his suburban Los Angeles home. Born wild in a West African jungle, captured when he was 2, Ramar took up residence in Badal's garage and by age 7 was the best-trained performing gorilla in history. "I don't dream about him all the time," says Badal, 66, in a telephone interview from his home in Fullerton, where Ramar grew from a 65-pound child to a 300-pound adolescent from 1969 to 1974.

The folks who bring you the perfect beverage are happy to report that the perfect family is alive and well in Chicago. A recent survey by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board found that 44.7 percent of Chicago families eat dinner together every night and 79 percent dine ensemble at least twice a week. More shades of Ward and June Cleaver: 61 percent serve milk with dinner, and 71 percent regularly dine on meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Oooh, it makes you feel all glowy inside.

What went wrong with Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney? What went right? With a fervor not seen since Tom and Nicole split, the media investigated why the couple went, in four months, from "hot" to "not." Here we go: RENEE She beguiled him, inspiring his 1999 hit, "You Had Me From Hello." (People) KENNY After they wed, his romantic gestures stopped. "It was like he got his trophy and that was it," says a Renee pal. (Us Weekly) RENEE She wanted babies asap, says a friend.

The affluent community of Toms River, N.J., was shocked when in 1984 one of its most loved and respected citizens, Maria Marshall, was shot to death during an apparent robbery attempt. The community was even more horrified when Maria's equally respected husband, Rob, became the chief suspect in his wife's murder. Their three handsome sons were torn between love for their father and the growing suspicion that his claims of innocence didn`t jibe with the evidence. At 8 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday, NBC-Ch.

Who hasn`t heard of Clark Griswold, who created more havoc on his European vacation than did Napoleon with his wars of conquest? Well, Clark's back in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation." And this time it's personal-Clark is vacationing at home. But somehow Clark doesn`t find it as funny to destroy his own stuff. Unlike his two previous movies, this time it's Clark who is the victim of destruction. It's not as outrageously funny this time around, but there are some great scenes with Clark's wacky family (they`ve changed kids yet again!

Netflix has released the first image of guest star Joan Allen in the upcoming season of " The Killing ." Allen plays Colonel Margaret Rayne, the headmaster of an all boys' military academy. In the fourth season, Detective Linden (Mireille Enos) and Detective Holder (Joel Kinnaman) are assigned a new case: a picture-perfect family is murdered, survived only by son Kyle Stansbury (Tyler Ross), who was shot in the head during the massacre. Stansbury attends Allen's character's school.

"National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" was a riot! I didn`t think it would be sooo funny! Once again we join the Clark Griswold clan in their quest for the perfect "family activity." When it comes to Christmas he is a man possessed. He wants a "family Christmas" so badly he will do anything (and I do mean anything) to get it. This includes inviting relatives who hate each other, and checking over 10,000 Christmas lights (the big kind) and tacking them all over his house. Things start rolling when he drives his family out to the middle of nowhere to get their own tree (which, by the way, is about 2 inches smaller than the one in Daley Plaza)